Running the TCT Armenia, Part 2
Katya’s story about her recent adventure across Armenia continues — if you haven’t read Part 1 yet, now is the time! Katya spent 22 days this summer running the TCT Armenia and captured the Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the trail — no easy feat! While she ran most of the trail alone, she had the tremendous help of her crew — Jonas, Maë, and Lisa — and was joined by the TCTA’s own executive director, Meagan, during the unsupported section in the Gegham Mountains. After she completed her run, Katya was excited to share what she learned with others who are considering running or hiking the TCT. Read on to learn about the challenges she faced on the trail, safety tips, advice, and see how you can watch the upcoming documentary about her adventure!
Challenges and Safety Tips
What was your biggest challenge on the trail?
I think honestly my biggest challenge was mental — self doubt and fear, especially in the first 10 days until the Gegham mountains. It was hard to find the mental strength to get started every day and sometimes to continue after seeing the crew at a checkpoint, because especially on tougher days, they were such a source of comfort that I didn’t want to leave them again. I was so nervous I felt physically sick the morning of Day 1, knowing that I was about to embark on the most remote section of the trail and that I wouldn’t see the crew until the end of Day 2. Day 1 ended up being extremely tough, with a lot of things not going to plan and me ending up on the side of the mountain in the dark with my two sources of navigation out or almost out of battery. The end of that day was pretty sketchy, and although I thankfully made it safely to Shishkert, I was left with a couple black toenails and painful blisters on my feet which made it difficult to walk, let alone run for the next week or so. While getting through that made me feel more capable of dealing with other challenging sections of the trail, there was some lingering anxiety around being in the mountains alone, especially in the second half of the day, that never really went away after getting stuck in the dark on Day 1.
That’s where the crew was amazing and made all the difference. Jonas and Maë, in that first block of the run, before I felt more confident in my abilities, gave me so much encouragement and physical and mental support. After struggling through the first few days, Jonas made some last minute changes to the days so that I’d have more checkpoints and that the distance/elevation was more balanced without adding more time. Beyond their logistics roles in the crew, Jonas and Maë were also there as my partner and my friend, and I leaned on them a lot for strength.
Were you concerned for your safety at any point, particularly as a solo female hiker?
Safety was definitely a concern throughout. I grew up mostly in large cities, not used to being alone in the wilderness or around animals, and while I have done mountain ultras before, there was always an evacuation system and medical care closeby. Coming into this, I knew that I would be responsible for my own safety in ways that I hadn’t been previously, and that I was taking on risks that I had to be comfortable with, even though we had safety measures in place, such as carrying the inReach tracker which Jonas monitored.
There were moments towards the end of Day 1 when the sun was going down and a thick fog had settled that I considered finding any shelter and just curling up in my emergency blanket until morning. I decided to keep pushing, only being 5km away from Shishkert, but I’d gotten myself into a pretty sketchy situation. I think because of this experience, I was a lot more cautious later in the run and as I said before, there was some lingering anxiety around being in the mountains in the afternoon or in the fog, because I didn’t want to be in a situation like that again.
Because I was attempting to run the trail, I wasn’t carrying a tent with me, except for the Geghams section. This meant that the stakes were higher to make it to each day’s endpoint, since the most I had with me in terms of shelter was an emergency blanket and there were very limited bailout points where the crew could reach me in the car. We did our best to mitigate these risks by adjusting how much gear I had with me, depending on the remoteness of each section, and making sure I was always carrying extra water and food. This meant that at some points on the supported sections, I was carrying 5-6 kgs on my back; in the self-supported Geghams section where Meagan and I had our tent and food, we carried up to 14kgs.
In general, most of my fears were around sheepdogs, not wildlife. The dogs can be extremely territorial, and I’m very grateful I was carrying a dog whistle, pepper spray, and bear spray at all times. I used the dog whistle a lot, but thankfully only had to use the pepper spray a couple times when dogs got too close.
I also worried about the weather because in contrast to animals or other tangible threats, you can’t do much to deter it, just seek shelter. Having been in a dangerous weather situation in the mountains before, I definitely took as few risks as possible when I saw rain clouds or heard thunder.
To my surprise, I felt less vulnerable as a solo female hiker than I expected — I know this isn’t the case for everyone, so I feel very lucky. Even if I didn’t feel unsafe, I did definitely feel uncomfortable at times, and I was more aware of my gender than I would have been hiking in the UK, for example, simply due to the fact that it was highly unusual for a woman to be hiking alone. However, I think that my ability to communicate with people in Russian and explain what I was doing — and at times, make up stories that my ‘husband’ was walking in the other direction to meet me — helped me immensely, so having some pre-written phrases or being ready to politely decline invitations in Armenian or Russian could be useful for others.
Reflections
Having finished the run, would you have done anything differently, either in preparation for or during the journey?
I’m really proud of what we accomplished as a team with the resources and knowledge that we had when planning everything out. Because I got stronger over the course of the 22 days, I ended feeling like I could have kept going — so of course there was (and still is) a small voice saying we could have pushed harder and gone faster. However, with so many unpredictable factors beyond distance and elevation, and remembering how close we were to pausing several times in the first 10 days, I think pushing any harder could have easily resulted in an injury or fatigue that would have put the whole project in jeopardy.
A concrete thing I would have definitely changed is to start in bigger shoes from the very beginning of the trail — I did 3 days in my normal trail running shoes, which are already a size bigger, but quickly needed to change into the pair that were even larger because of my blisters and toenails, which slowly gave up trying to hold on by the end of the run…
What is the biggest takeaway from your experience?
I have two.
Firstly, we are capable of SO much more than we realise, and it is worth chasing those things that scare and excite you in equal measure. Although I’d experienced this awe at what my body could do during ultra races, learning to trust my body and my mind throughout this experience brought me such a sense of strength that I’ve never felt before. Of course, this was often humbled by the mountains, but the growth I saw in myself over those three weeks is something that will always stay with me.
Secondly, we do nothing alone — if you want something to happen, you have to seek it out, speak to people, ask for help. From the moment Lucia said yes and making the dream something tangible, to every person who took our idea seriously, to the companies and organisations who put grants and gear behind our project, to the crew on the ground who worked just as hard as I did — this was a gigantic team and community effort.
I hear you’re creating a documentary about your experience for the Kendal Mountain Film Festival! What motivated you to create this documentary, and how can we see it once it debuts?
Yes! We are so excited to be able to share some of our adventure with others in the form of a short film. We envisioned creating a documentary from the very start, because it was actually watching a documentary of a group of friends doing a long-distance run together that prompted me to take the leap to talk about my dream of running the TCT. It was short films about female trailrunners like Lucy Bartholomew, Stephanie Case, and Courtney Dauwalter that showed me role models in the sport and inspired me to explore trail running after I graduated from high school.
Kendal Mountain Festival actually awarded us one of the grants that made this whole project, including the film, possible, so we are extremely grateful to them for believing in us and supporting us in making this happen. Our short film, directed and produced by Lucia, has two main aims: firstly, to showcase the beauty of Armenia, a country that means so much to us both, and secondly, to highlight women in the outdoors and in ultrarunning. We hope that the film will inspire more people to get outside on the trails, starting with the TCT. We will be premiering the short film in November at Kendal Mountain Festival, and if anyone is around we’d love to say hi! We will have some screenings in London and elsewhere in early 2025, and it should also be accessible online then. You are welcome to follow along on Instagram at @running_armenia for updates on the film and future screenings!
